DURHAM – UNC Health has broken ground on a 48-acre medical campus near Research Triangle Park, beginning a phased project that is scheduled to add a six-story medical office building, a 900-space parking deck and eventually a 144-bed community hospital.
UNC Health held the groundbreaking Oct. 6 at 3490 Hopson Road Extension, off N.C. Highway 55 between Green Level Church Road and T.W. Alexander Drive. WRAL and Axios place the site in Durham near western Cary, southern Durham and Research Triangle Park.
WRAL reported that the first construction phase includes the medical office building and parking deck, which are scheduled to open by 2029. The community hospital is planned for 2032 and is expected to provide acute care, emergency services and surgery.
UNC Health expects the completed campus to employ about 1,000 people, according to WRAL and Axios. That estimate and the planned 144-bed capacity make the project a material addition to the Triangle’s health-care and employment base, although the cited sources do not include a detailed hiring timetable.
The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services conditionally approved an Aug. 18 scope change adding 42 acute-care beds, bringing the planned UNC Hospitals Cary Campus total to no more than 144 beds in Durham County. That approval-stage development predates and is distinct from the Oct. 6 groundbreaking milestone.
WRAL independently reported the groundbreaking, location, first-phase buildings, 2029 target and planned hospital. Axios separately reported that construction had begun, the hospital is expected to open by 2032 and the campus is expected to employ roughly 1,000 people.
UNC Health said the project responds to growth in the area. Officials cited a projection of about 44,000 additional residents in the Triangle by 2035, increasing demand for hospital and outpatient capacity.
The cited sources do not disclose a final project cost, construction contract value or annual payroll estimate. Those figures should not be inferred. The documented North Carolina business consequence is a new 48-acre medical campus, a planned 144-bed hospital and an operation expected to support about 1,000 jobs.